The Year Nicholas Got Nothing But Socks For Christmas

You wouldn't think I'd be so happy that my 10-year-old wants to start collecting toy trains – the kind that take up half the basement floor. But if he hadn't gone online and printed out information on train after train that he swears he needs for his new hobby, I wouldn't know what to tell his grandparents, aunts and uncles to get him for Christmas. Until now, he just shrugged when I asked him what he wanted for the holidays. And, believe me, I didn't want to be responsible for The Year Nicholas Got Nothing But Socks For Christmas.

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I guess I should be happy, if not proud, that my kid needs nothing more than a pad and pencils to keep him entertained. He never asks for any "totally wicked" video games. He doesn't pine for expensive sporting goods, and he's never asked for a cell phone (which is good, because he wouldn't get one). Instead, he sits at his desk for hours, drawing, like a young Picasso, or perhaps, Charles Schultz, while all the other kids' mothers have to just say no to PlayStation or those way-too-fast-and-dangerous motorized scooters.

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I've had it easy.

But if I don't provide suggestions for Christmas presents to family members, he'll wind up with enough sketch pads to create drawings for four dozen coffee table books and a lifetime supply of pencils. And then what would we all give him for his birthday next spring? Erasers?

At 10, he's too young to be one of those Men Who Are Hard to Shop For. You know, the husbands and fathers who have 13 Home Depot gift cards stuffed in their dresser drawers next to the unopened pairs of underpants and socks and half-eaten bags of jelly beans in New York Giants colors. That's not supposed to happen for another 20 years or so.

At his age, he ought to have a Christmas list longer than his arm. Thanks to his discovery of trains, he finally does. And I've finally got something for his relatives to put under the Christmas tree. If I'm lucky, he'll still love trains next year. If not, there's always socks.